Improvement in machines for breaking and dressing hemp and flax



H. LULL.

Hemp and Flax Brake.

Patented June 14, 1837.

circular heads, which, for an ordinary-sized NTTED STATES HARVEY LULL,OF ITHAOA, YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR BREAKING AND DRESSING HEMP AND FLAX.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 235, dated June 14,1837.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I. HARVEY LULL, of Ithaca, in the county of Tompkinsand State of New York, have ini ented an Improved Machine for thePurpose of Breaking and Dressing Hemp and Fla-x; and I do hereby declarethat the following is a full and exact description thereof.

Upon a main shaft, the gudgeons of which are sustained in any suitableframe, I fix two machine for hemp, may be three feet in diameter andthree feet six inches apart. Between these heads there are to be flutedbreaking-rollers, which have their bearings near the peripheries ofthese heads or circular plates. These rollers may be of cast-iron or ofwood covered with metal. They extend from one circular head to theother, and may be ten inches in diameter. They are fluted from end toend by deep angular flutes, each of which may constitute two sides of anequilateral triangle, and of these there are upon each roller, usuallyten in number. Two or more such rollers are placed at equal distanceapart, with their teeth projecting beyond the edges of the plates inwhich their gudgeons revolve. Knives fordressing the hemp or flax extendacross from head to head, there beingone in advance of each roller,nearly in contact with it, and having its blade in the direction of theperipheries of the circular heads, and on a level with them, while theyare'strengthened by a strip on their backs at the under sides of them.The breaking is to be effected by means of metallic plates or slats withthe aid of the above-named fluted rollers, within the flutes of whichthey are to be received, their conjoint action effecting the object.These slats may be of the same length with the rollers, (four or fiveinches wide and onefourth of an inch thick,) and they are to be so fixedthat they may be made to pass to a greater or a less depth between theroller-flutes as the breaking proceeds. The rollers, also, must be madeto revolveon their own axes, and both of these objects I effect in thefollowing manner:

I prepare two flat circular plates or hoops, usually of cast-iron, whichare to be of such size and so attached to the frame of the machine asthat they shall surround the fluted rollers near each of their ends. Oneof these hoops is round on its inner edge, and the opening therein ofsuch diameter as just to allow the fluted rollers to revolve and to becarried round by the main shaft within without touching it. This plateor ring is about three inches wide. The opposite plate differs from thisfirst in being furnished with teeth on its inner edge, which mesh intothe flutes or teeth of the fluted rollers, which play with freedom inthem. The efiect of this arrangement is, that when the main shaft,carrying the cylinder of fluted rollers and knives, is made to revolve,the individ ual rollers will likewise revolve on their own axis. Theslats which are to pass between the teeth of the fluted rollers arereceived between the two last-described hollow circular plates or hoops,extending from one of them to the other, and sliding in and out innotches or grooves prepared for that purpose, their planes pointingtoward the center of the main shaft and standing in the middle of eachof the teeth, by which the rollers are turned. The number of these slatsmay vary, but eight will usually answer the intended purpose. Theyoccupy the upper portion of the machine,.commencing about twenty degreesfrom its top on the feeding side and extending about one-fourth of theway round. I have said that these slats are made to slide in and out, asmay be required, and this sliding I effect by making a projecting tongueon each end of them, which tongues are received into grooves uponmovable curved plates adapted to the inner sides of the hoops or ringsby which the slats are sustained. The grooves above named form inclinedplanes so placed that when the curved plates are made to slide back orforth within the circle the slats are simultaneously forced in or out.They are made to slide by means of a cranked lever attached to theirends, and which crosses the machine. Instead of tongues there may benotches on each end of the slats having-inclined tongues or filletsfitted into them, and the sliding of the slats, also, may be elfected inother ways.

When the machine is used, the main shaft is to be made to revolve by anycompetent power. The tow or flax is to be held in the hand, or in a gripmade for the purpose, and fed in upon the revolving rollers, by which itwill be carried under the slats,'that, by means of the cranked lever,are forced down as the breaking proceeds, while it is at the same timedressed by the knives, which separate the slivers from it and clean itin a very perfeet manner. WVhen one end of the handful has been thusdressed and cleaned, it is withdrawn, and the other end is fed in andcleaned in a similar manner.

For flax the machine should be of smaller size than that designated; butconsiderable latitude may be allowed in this particular.

Having thus fully described the construction and operation of my machinefor dressing and cleaning hemp and flax, I do hereby declare that I donot intend to claim the fluted rollers, the slats, or thedressing-knives, in their individual capacity as of my invention, thesehaving been before used in machines for the same purpose, but combinedtogether and operating in a manner essentially different from thatherein described.

That I do claim, therefore, is

The general combination and arrangement of those parts, substantially asabove set forth-that is to say, the fluted rollers carried round by arevolving shaft and having an independent revolution of their own ontheir individual shafts, which revolution is elfected by teeth takinginto the teeth or flutes on the rollers in the way described, and thisin combination with the dressing-knives and the movable slats, whichlatter are made to pass simultaneously to a greater or lesser depthwithin the flutes of the rollers, in the manner and for the purposeherein fully set forth.

HARVEY LULL.

Witnesses:

THos. P. J ONES, W. THOMPSON.

hill, J

